Leaving the house for days in "cold" weather

[rationull]

I recently moved into a house with central forced air heating, making it possible to actually keep the whole house warm rather than just warming up one room after running a wall heater for 2 hours. I don't live in a cold climate by any means, but it does get into the mid 20s occasionally.

I'm going out of town for a few days and while I don't think it's going to get below freezing while I'm gone (so I'm not worried about frozen pipes) I wanted to ask about other things to keep in mind since so many of you fellow BITOGers have experience living in actual cold areas.

When actually keeping the house warm is an option, is it generally advisable to leave the heater off (thus saving money and not risking problems) while gone, or to leave it on at 50 degrees or so to prevent stuff inside (such as the fridge) from getting too cold? I figure it's not really necessary but was curious as to if there are any advantages to leaving the heat on low that I'm not considering. What do you guys in cold climates do when you leave for a few days during the winter?

 

[Gary Allan]

Get a house sitter/tender. I'm feeding the fish for a neighbor in Florida for over a week. The thermostat is down to 50f.

 

[Smokescreen]

Like you said 50F to 59F to keep the plants from freezing and everything else like pipes etc. I find if you go any lower than that it takes hours to heat the house back up to normal temps negating some of the savings you might have had while you had it low.

When you have it 50-59F the thermostat cycles only when needed and it will save you enough money.

 

[stockrex]

here is my list when we head out to socal for weeks in winter:

1. turn water main off.
2. leave ALL the lights on
3. open bathroom cabinet door under sink and leave bath and bed doors open
4. set thermostat at 50F
5. flush all baths and cover the seat
6. give key to neighbor
7. say prayer and drive to airport

 

[JustinH]

I just have a friend come and stay in the house, to watch the cat.

This way toilets are being flushed, water is running, and they have an eye on the place.

 

[JHZR2]

50f is the best way to keep it, 45 if you are gone for a long while, don't have fish/plants, and really trust your heater...

 

[rationull]

I'm only gone for 3.5-4 days and it's not supposed to get any colder than 37F outside so I'm probably overthinking this. I'm already planning to turn the water main off, and maybe I will go ahead and leave the heater on 45-50 after all.

 

[Win]

At our secondary house, I set the thermostats at 55F on both floors in winter, and 79F in summer when we are not there. Winter temps between 10-20F are common.

The problem with letting thigs get too hot or cold is overcoming the heat or cold soak when you want to get the temperature back where you want it.

 

[fdcg27]

Very good point.
Last December, we were gone to somewhere warm for a week.
It had gotten cold enough in our absence that the sprinkler system piping in the baggage claim area at DAY had gotten cold enough to freeze and burst.
I had the house thermostat turned down to 48 F or so.
It took a good long while to get the house back up to comfortable temperatures.

 

[dave123]

You have the right idea and a good plan 37 for low is not cold.
Set temp at what you stated and enjoy your time away no worries.

 

[kkreit01]

I kept ours at 64 when were were out for 4 days. We have a small fish tank w/o heater. I'm ready for them to "pass on", but didn't really want to freeze them.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Give me your address and I'll stop in and check on things.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Get a house sitter/tender. I'm feeding the fish for a neighbor in Florida for over a week. The thermostat is down to 50f.


That might work if Gary Allan or one of you nice people came over to do it.

When I first moved to Florida I had to go back north for about 2 months..I had my neighbor [a 50 something year old woman who I thought I could trust] watch the place to make the a/c was working properly because mold and other issues can happen if the a/c is not working properly in the summer down here...She let her 19 year old son stay in my condo [without my knowledge] and he threw parties every night in there...My carpet,appliances and furniture were trashed...The stove was so bad I had to get a new one.

I took her to court where I won judgement but it was not nearly enough to cover all the expenses that I had to put out...Thank heavens my neighbor moved about six months later.

 

[brianl703]

Setting the temperature too low is not good for the heat exchanger on a gas furnace. I read somewhere that 55F is the lowest you would want to go.

If the heat exchanger fails, you pretty much need a new furnace.

 

[PT1]

1. Shut water main off.
2. set thermostat to 60F

Leave and enjoy.

 

[severach]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Setting the temperature too low is not good for the heat exchanger on a gas furnace. I read somewhere that 55F is the lowest you would want to go.

Does that mean that all new furnaces left in cold store rooms are damaged?

 

[brianl703]

No, because they're not operating.

The heat exchanger must operate at a certain minimum temperature to avoid condensation, which causes it to rust out. This can be caused by condensation in the ducts as well (due to the exhaust air from the furnace not being hot enough), which is really only likely to be a problem if the furnace is installed in an unconditioned space such as an attic or crawlspace, but bear in mind that many are.

If the input air is too cold, the heat exchanger will not get hot enough, nor will the exhaust air get hot enough, to avoid condensation.

 

[rationull]

Thanks for all the input, guys!

No disasters on the trip. I left the furnace at 50-55 F. It's an older furnace (not a high efficiency condensing one) and is installed in the house (with air intake in the house) so I doubt it got cold enough to damage itself. Of course I later remembered that the fridge isn't supposed to be in a room that gets below 55 F so hopefully no damage there.

As a side note driving 500 miles at once for each leg of this trip is probably going to make this the longest OCI my OLM has ever recommended! 5700 miles and it's still at 30% IIRC.